Narayan AmmachchiMillions of people in Argentina and Uruguay were left in the dark for several hours on Sunday after a regional electric interconnection system failure sparked an unprecedented power outage.
“A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power,” electricity supply company Edesur stated in a tweet. On Monday it had restored electricity to all its customers.
Transportation services were the hardest hit. In Argentina, train services were interrupted as a result of the blackout that occurred at around 7am local time, according to local media reports.
Road traffic slowed to a crawl as signage failed, and although flights operated normally, seaports came to a standstill.
Electricity was restored in most parts of both countries by the evening, but water supplies remained disrupted.
Argentina ‘s biggest water supplier Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos (AYSA) is reportedly still struggling to restore its service.
Blackouts are not uncommon in Argentina, but a power outage of this magnitude is unprecedented.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri has ordered an investigation, after his energy minister Gustavo Lopetegui told reporters that the exact cause of the outage was unclear.
Córdoba and Mendoza, the Argentine provinces where many IT firms operate, were among the areas affected by the outage.
Add comment